Posts tagged baby blog

Would love to hear how your journey is going and for you to share some special moments with us.

My special moment was hearing Zoe laugh away as I bounced her up and down on my lap whilst singing Row Row Row your Boat!

Couldn’t help but laugh with her, which made her giggle even more!

Here is a breakdown of my 4th month experiences and observations – hope you find them interesting and useful.

Week 13 – Curing Cradle Cap

I had previously mentioned that I was prescribed Diprobase to use on Zoe’s Cradle Cap and dry skin. I have actually found that some Olive Oil and brushing her scalp with a soft baby brush is equally as effective. It’s looking a lot better but requires persistence and have been doing at least morning and night for a few weeks now.

Week 14 – Time To Unswaddle !

Finally Yes! This week Zoe decided after a few attempts at going cold turkey with the swaddle with both arms out in a grow bag that she was going to sleep un-swaddled! So relieved J

She went off nicely in her grow bag in the first nap of the day.

I also put her feeding muslin in with her as I had noticed she likes to hold it whilst feeding, so thought this may help her settle.

No going back now, also ordered a mobile for her cot to help her wind down before her day sleeps as these are often more tricky for her to settle.

Mobile seems to be a big hit! She coos and squeals looking up at it…came recommended, it’s the BabyLove Classic mobile. Don’t be put off at first as it does seem a gimmicky but it really does the trick!

Week 15 – Establishing A New Routine

This week I really concentrated on looking at Zoe’s patterns, i.e when she was hungry and tired.

I then came up with her rough routine for the day, making sure I crammed in enough feeds to tank her up for the night!

This routine is flexible but the emphasis is on 3 naps per day, with the longest being in the middle part of the day and feeds 3-4hrly, starting from 7am.

Week 16 – Night Feeds

Zoe is still waking around midnight for a feed and then at 5am, settling immediately afterwards and then waking around 7am, when we start our day!

Any feed before 7am I treat as a night feed, so feeding in the dark with no stimulation.

I still haven’t introduced a dream feed as feel its more natural not too, however as the weeks go on, she may get hungrier then I may decide to try it.

Now giving full feed before bed rather than split feeds as feel she is hungrier at that time and fills her up nicely for bed.

Please do comment back with any questions or any related experiences you have had with your baby!

Time is just flying! One day with this little one rolls into the next.

Now I understand what others mothers meant when they said “I never find time to do anything”. One thing I have learnt, you have to make time.

Within reason fit the baby around your life and your needs otherwise you’ll never get anything done!

My poor little baby’s nappy rash continues. Still using Pampers nappies as I have been from Day 1. Tried Bepanthen and Metanium, and these don’t seem to be helping. Have found that Johnsons Baby Wipes Extra Sensitive work the best so far.

May book a GP appointment to get this checked out.

Week 6 – Breastfeeding

Well, I continue to feel like a feeding machine!

This week I contacted the National Breastfeeding Helpline Number:

Aren’t they a helpful bunch…what a super service. On call 24/7 which is really useful and you can just call from your nursing chair!

Wanted some tips on trying to reduce wind after feeding.

They suggested moving baby to a more upright position – her tummy on my tummy, kind of a ‘koala’ position! Then it goes with gravity.

This has helped massively so far, and she is burping mid feed which is efficient!

Also talked about let down and slowing the initial spurt down a bit.

Now hand expressing for a few minutes before morning feeds when I am the fullest! Think better than expressing as this will just stimulate milk production and that seems all fine so far.

Oh and by the way, we had her first smiles this week, a magical moment which brought a tear to my eye.

Week 7 – Nappy rash continues

So the nappy rash continues, a red area on bottom along with small red spots…managed to get a GP to take a look at it.

He prescribed some anti-fungal cream as looks like a fungal infection. Also suggested to use Cetraben.

Also encouraged lots of nappy free time. This proves challenging, finding time and protecting all nearby equipment from accidents! J

Decided against using Cetraben as felt area was well moisturized.

Tried Pampers Baby Dry nappies, supposed to be more absorbent, but still not helping rash. Discovered that local pharmacist sells two types of Metanium!

There’s my mistake! Should have asked…have been using barrier cream rather than the ointment/yellow paste. This helped clear it slightly.

Then a friend suggested changing the nappy brand….I knew this from experience so why didn’t I think of this myself and try it earlier!

Changed to Naty nappies (which are purely natural) – you can get them in Waitrose and Amazon. And overnight the rash cleared up..

Week 8 – Bedtime Routine

Nearly two months old, can’t believe it! And baby is feeling bigger and stronger every day. Definitely makes you think about making the most of this time as they grow up too quickly.

Quite conscious that I wanted to start a bedtime routine so that my husband and I could get our evenings back!

Tallying up her sleep for the day on the fantastic BabyFeed Iphone App! I am making sure she doesn’t have more than 10-11 hours by 6pm…starting from midnight. So that she is saving up a big stint for the evening.

Try for at least 3 hours total in naps during the day, so she is well rested.

I believe that a well rested baby during the day, sleeps well at night!

I get at least 6 feeds into her by 8pm – with one big feed before bathtime from one side and another feed from he other side after her bath.

She has adapted nicely, and goes down around 8pm often waking anytime from midnight-4am for a feed. This night feed seems to be getting shorter and she will then go back down for another 3-4 hour sleep.

Been debating the whole dream feed thing. Find that she sleeps really well and a big stint at first so don’t want to interrupt this pattern.

She also has two large feeds before bed so is fully stocked up anyway!

Am aware the early morning feeds say from 12-4am are best to keep your milk production up, so will continue with this pattern….until hopefully she drops the night feed of her own accord

Whats next…??

Next week I plan on transitioning her into her own room overnight.

She currently sleeps in their for her day naps and is familiar with the room as we feed/change in there.

Also going to introduce a bottle of expressed breast milk and give this every few days so that she can take from a bottle, giving me some flexibility!

Please do write back with any comments or questions…..till next month !

Hi all welcome to my first post on the completely baby blog! I am setting this blog up on my website to be able to share my journey through motherhood with you all. I will be looking to keep this pretty regular with posts a couple of times a month.

In terms of what I will be writing about – this will focus initially on a monthly diary format of my experience and general baby care advice including challenges I have faced and what solutions I found to overcome them. Also looking to share helpful tips and tricks that I have found along the way which have worked for me and am confident will work for you as well. I will be putting various theories to the test as well and feeding back my experience and what worked and didn’t work.

I will also be reflecting on the knowledge I have gained as a childcare professional and how I can incorporate them now into my own parenting. It’s all well and good to have that professional knowledge but being able to apply that to my own parenting is something I am enjoying already and looking to share with you all.

I would like to make this as engaging and interactive as possible so would love to hear your feedback and comments along the way so feel free to post your thoughts against anything you like or find interesting.

Also it would be really great to get some suggestions on the kinds of topics you would be interested in reading so I can tailor my posts to make them as useful as possible.

That’s it for now, look out for my first diary post on my experiences from my first month coming soon!